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Burgess Lecture

2013 Lecture: Four Horsemen -- The Catastrophic Four Years That Remade The World's Religions

Dr. Philip Jenkins

Distinguished Professor History, Baylor University,Co-Director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion, and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University (PSU)

October 14, 2013Chapel of the Incarnation, Olson Campus Center

Only a hundred years ago, Europeans and Americans were deeply involved in what both sides understood as a Holy War, and religious and mystical imagery dominated the war’s rhetoric and propaganda. In its effects too, the war’s effects utterly reshaped religious life worldwide. The war created a massive crisis of confidence for Western Christianity, while devastating ancient churches in Russia and the Middle East. At the same time, we look to the war years for the birth of modern global Christianity, with the beginnings of explosive growth in Africa and Asia. Without understanding this global conflict, we cannot understand the religious history of the last century.

Through these lectures the task of global mission today is interpreted in the light of the Christian tradition, the historical experience of the church, and the contemporary situation in the world.

The Andrew S. Burgess Lecture in Global Mission was inaugurated in 1991 in an ongoing effort to introduce leading scholars in global mission to the Luther Seminary community. The Burgess Lecture is made possible by a fund established in honor of the life and work of Andrew S. Burgess, former missionary, missionary executive, and professor of missions at Luther Seminary.